Tip Top Tea Shop at Char Dukan in Mussoorie

March 7, 2016

Char Dukan in Landour, Mussoorie has been around since nearly the beginning of this former British summer retreat town. The name “Char Dukan” literally means “four shops” in Hindi. Although in the last 100 years an extra shop or two has sprung up.

There are many resorts in Mussoorie and it’s a popular destination with Indian tourists partly due to the lovely Mussoorie weather. When the rest of the country is roasting it’s nice and cool in this old British hill station. Click the Agoda ad below to find hotels in Mussoorie for as low as 12 US dollars.

Char Dukan, then and now.

Naturally, Mussoorie tourism is booming in the summer months and Char Dukan is practically crawling with visitors on any Saturday of the year. Serving up typical Indian snack foods like parantha (<-click for recipe), maggi noodles, and paneer pakora, these old shops keep the masses fed before they venture out for a hike in the Himalayan foothills.

Tip Top Tea Shop

There are many places to eat in Mussoorie but our favorite shop at Char Dukan, by far, is Tip Top Tea Shop. When facing the shops, Tip Top is on the far right. It serves up much the same menu as the rest of the shops, including the staple bun omelet (an omelet served in a sweet bun).

But what kept us coming back week after week, were the pancakes. These are not your mama’s pancakes. No stacks of thin, flavorless flap jacks, here. When you order pancakes at Tip Top what you get is one, literal, pan-cake.

Thick, sweet, and delicious, you really don’t even need the syrup. They come in a variety of custom flavors including banana, apple cinnamon, and chocolate.

Hot and crispy apple cinnamon pancake.

You can guess which flavor our boys preferred.

This is India so be patient, your food will not come quickly or at the same time. Our boys loved to watch the cook work his magic.

Ginger Lemon Tea

Before leaving make sure you don’t miss out on another Mussoorie specialty – Hot Honey Lemon Ginger Tea. It’s a nice alternative to the classic Indian milk chai.

I preferred the bun omelet (I’m a salty, not a sweet kinda gal) but the rest of my family never left Tip Top without a scrumptious, fried pancake.

I have been to Mussoorie but have not had the privilege of visiting Char Dukan. Will make sure to visit next time and taste some of the stuff, though I would prefer the Paranthas and the Bread Pakoras over the pancakes as my preference is salt and spice over sweet :)